Aftermath
by Narnian at Heart
Summary: After the incident at Grady Memorial Hospital, nothing is the same. Everyone is living with the aftermath...and, for some, it's too much to bear. Sometimes you can't go back.
1. Frogs for Dinner

**This storyline came to me today as I was doing dishes...yeah, I know, my creativity comes out at the most unusual times. I also want all my readers to know that I AM going to be finishing a lot of my old stories now that I'm back to writing again so stay posted and if you have a story you want me to get working on again, let me know and I'll make it a priority.**

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The sound of that gunshot was still ringing in Carol's ears as the silent procession made their way down the stairs, through the halls and out the doors of Grady Memorial Hospital, their eyes blank with shock or filled with tears of grief. The walk seemed to be going in slow motion and the edges of Carol's vision seemed to keep going in and out of focus, causing the walls on either side her to feel surreal and unstable.

Beth is gone. It had happened so suddenly that Carol still wasn't sure exactly what went down back there. What had Beth been thinking? Why didn't she just walk away?

_Would you have just walked away? _

Carol wasn't quite sure how to answer that. Noah meant nothing to her, he was expendable but Beth was one of their own.

The sound of Maggie's devastated scream brought Carol's mind back to reality, back to the horror of the world as it was now...without Beth. Maggie was on the ground, her face twisted in anguish as tears flooded down her cheeks and onto the pavement and Carol swallowed thickly as she watched Daryl carry the small, lifeless body of their ray of sunshine towards her broken sister. Carol hated that Daryl had to be the one to do that, she had seen him nearly break back there as he knelt down to pick her up off the blood soaked floor, but she knew that it was something he felt he had to do for Beth.

Glenn finally snapped out of it and knelt down next to his wife, pulling her close in his arms and letting her bury her face into his chest to block out the horrifying sight of her little sister's blood slowly dripping out of the gaping hole in her skull to the ends of her blonde hair and down onto Daryl's boot.

Carol hadn't thought for one second that both she and Beth would be leaving that hospital alive, but she had maintained the thought that it would be herself who wasn't leaving, and she had been prepared for that, so when Rick struck the deal and both she and Beth were safe behind their leader it had been a pleasant surprise and she had allowed herself to hope for a moment that maybe it was all going to be alright for once.

What a foolish thing to do.

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Carol winced as she sat down by the fire next to Tara, whom she was now tent mates with. She had been a bit leery at first when Tara told her she had been part of The Governor's group that attacked and destroyed the prison, but her explanation was so genuine and her eyes were so full of regret that Carol felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably in pity for the poor girl. Tara was a lesbian and Carol actually found it kind of refreshing, she added an interesting factor to the group with her tomboy attitude and her awkward fist bum attempts. When Carol had returned said fist bump, it had sealed the deal on their friendship, she was the first one to return the gesture with a smile and some gusto instead of an awkward light knuckle knock.

"You still sore?" Tara asked.

Carol just gave her a look that clearly stated "Thank you, Captain Obvious" and held her ribs tight for a moment while her body adjusted to the new position.

"It's gonna take a while to be back to my old self," Carol admitted through gritted teeth.

Tara just looked at her with pity and when back to roasting her frog on a stick over the flames.

_Oh, yummy. _Carol eyed the pile of frogs with distaste but her stomach growled so loudly that Carl looked up at her in shock from across the fire. Pickings were scarce lately, mainly because their main provider of wild game was down for the count.

Daryl had shut down after Grady, his eyes were either blank or filled with rage all day, every day and he rarely spoke to anyone anymore, even Rick had a hard time getting more than a few short words out of him. Daryl Dixon was hurting and Carol wanted nothing more than to make him feel better...but sometimes it just takes time.

To be honest, she'd tried to approach him a few times only to be grunted at and left standing alone as he stalked off into the forest. The only thing he'd said to her since the hospital was "Be back soon" when he was going hunting once...but he had returned empty handed and Carol swore his eyes were red and swollen from crying, but he kept his head down and his dark hair kept his face in shadows so she couldn't confirm it.

Beth's death had left a hole in the group, that was for certain, but Daryl, Rick, and Maggie were hit the hardest. Maggie because she'd lost her sister, Rick because he knew he should have stopped her, and Daryl because he felt responsible for losing her in the first place.

Carol pulled her stick away from the fire and gave her frog an experimental squeeze, it was hot and firm and the skin was crispy. She was about to bite into the leg of it when she noticed that Daryl wasn't in the group around the fire.

"Where is Daryl?" she whispered to Tara. Tara looked around and finally pointed at the top of the rock wall they had sheltered behind, he was sitting up there keeping watch in the moonlight. Carol wanted to give him her frog but standing on her own was nearly impossible and she didn't want anyone hovering while she spoke to Daryl, their conversations weren't for everyone to hear.

"I can give it to him," Tara offered, offering Carol a knowing look as she reached out for the frog. Carol smiled genuinely at the young woman and gave the frog to her, watching as she walked to the wall and softly called to Daryl who looked down and accepted the frog with a nod. Tara pointed back at the fire and Daryl's eyes flicked over to meet Carol's and she quickly looked away.

"He said thank you," Tara informed her upon her return as she sat back down in the dirt and continued roasting her own frog. Carol nodded and began roasting a new frog for herself, her eyes focused on the ever changing flames of the fire, lost in thought.

They had lost so many people over time, T-Dog and Lori and Andrea and Hershel, so why was this so hard? What was it about Beth that her death had so deeply affected the group unlike any other loss before? Sure, she was sad about the loss of Beth, but it was nothing like the pain of losing her daughter or T-Dog or Lori. She wanted to ask Daryl, but she knew she would only sound insensitive and cold.

"Did you know Beth well?" Tara's soft voice interrupted Carol's wandering mind and she snapped back to the present.

"Not as well as some, but well enough," Carol replied, pulling back her frog when she realized it had burned slightly as her mind had wandered. "She was good with the children, a natural nurturer. She loved to sing. She had a sense of acceptance about the world and it never seemed to get her down. She was kind and soft spoken. She was strong, but she wasn't always logical...I think that was her downfall."

"Why do you think that?" Tara asked, her eyes wide.

Carol felt a lump in her throat as the scene played over again in her mind: Beth's defiant eyes as she walked slowly up to Dawn and looked her in the eye, her soft yet bold statement of "I get it now" and her brazen attempt at hurting Dawn...and the sudden sound of a gunshot that resulted in Beth's brains exploding out the back of her skull, staining her blonde hair red. Carol still wasn't sure what she had meant by "she got it now" and why she had thought stabbing Dawn with tiny scissors was a good idea...she figured Beth was just tired of the shit.

"Because I honestly don't see any reason why she did what she did," Carol replied quietly, "We all could have walked out of there."

"Not Noah," Tara reminded her gently.

"No..."Carol agreed, her eyes wandered over to where Noah sat, chin on his knees as he gazed out into the darkness of the woods. "But I can't tell yet if he was worth losing her."

Tara was silent for a while and then she sighed.

"I'm sure I wasn't worth losing your people at the prison," she said sadly, "But you all took me in and treated me like one of your own. This wasn't Noah's fault and he is suffering too, don't forget that. He's just a kid."

Carol looked at Tara and sized her up. Maybe there was more to this girl than met the eyes, she had a gentle strength about her that Carol suddenly found herself admiring.

"You're right, Tara," she admitted, "He's one of us now. He's a tough kid from what I saw of him and I think he's going to be fine. You ready for bed?"

Tara looked down sadly at her frog that she had stripped every bit of meat from, her stomach growled but she nodded.

"Yeah," she sighed, "Not getting anything more off these bones anyway. Maybe Daryl will get some squirrels tomorrow."

Carol doubted it. Daryl's hunting skills were not top notch lately and winter was coming on fast, game was getting scarce. But there was no point in adding to the morbid atmosphere so she nodded and smiled up at Tara who had stood and was stretching her back.

"You're right, Tara," she said as chipper as she could as Tara helped her to stand, "Tomorrow is always a new day. Maybe tomorrow we'll get it right."

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**Here's the start. This is going to be a Caryl fic and will stray from any known storyline out there that I know of...but I promise it'll be all kinds of good :)**


	2. Bass Pro Shops

**So happy to see people interested in this new fic! I can't wait till it get's moving so...let's get it moving!**

**Got my cat by my side, jar of moonshine on the table, box of Lemonheads to munch on...think I'm set for a good long write :)**

**Ugh...ok, just FYI, Firefly strawberry moonshine tastes just like cough syrup. But...it gets you buzzing REAL quick so it's worth it ;)**

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Carol's nose was flooded with the scent of meat cooking as soon as she opened her eyes. Gathering her strength, she sat up and took a deep sniff that caused her empty stomach to rumble.

"Is that actual food I smell?" she heard the voice of Glenn coming from outside the tent, "Hey, Maggie, look, Daryl got some...um..."

"Possum," came Daryl's gruff voice from further away.

"Yeah...uh...possum..." Glenn sounded a bit less enthusiastic.

"Did he say possum?" Tara asked from beside Carol, her eyes still closed as she lay in her sleeping bag. "I've never had possum, is it worth waking up for?"

Carol's stomach growled again and she grabbed it as if that would help.

"Right now, I'd say anything is worth waking up for as long as it's edible," she laughed.

Tara's eyes opened and she sat up with a giant yawn and tossed her sleeping bag open, Carol noted she slept in her boots just like she did. You had to always be ready to go these days. God, she missed the prison. Tara helped Carol to stand and they slowly emerged from the tent into the bright sunlight of the day.

"It's a beautiful day!" Tara exclaimed happily as she pointed at the nearly cloudless sky, "Just look at that beautiful blue sky!"

Carol was far too hungry to care much about the sky, but she was glad for the warm sunshine on her skin, it was September and winter would soon be upon them once again. She wasn't looking forward to the cold nights and stiff joints and ice water "baths" in the creeks. Winter had never been her favorite season but now it was ten times worse.

"Here," Daryl's gruff voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked down to see him handing her strip of bark containing several small hunks of possum meat. She took it eagerly and smiled at him, hoping desperately that he would return it...but he didn't, he just nodded and turned back to get a plate for Tara. Carol sighed heavily.

"You like him, don't you?" Tara observed nonchalantly. Carol looked at her wide eyed for a moment, but she soon relaxed and looked back at Daryl who was now passing "plates" to Maggie and Glenn.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked, a smile reaching her lips.

Tara tipped her head back and dropped a piece of possum meat in before giving Carol a raised eyebrow look that clearly said 'Duh'.

"Yeah...I do, but it's more complicated than that," Carol admitted, she had no idea why she suddenly felt the need to let all this out, but she let her mouth go, "I respect him. I want him to be happy, safe...I want him to feel like he's as good as I KNOW he is. I want to be there for him and I want to keep him from going back to that place he was back in Atlanta...I want him to continue to mature and grow. And, yes...I want to be more than just his friend."

Tara looked at Carol with soft eyes and she began to smile.

"Then keep trying," she advised, "He has a lot to deal with and so do you, just don't let him pull away and don't let yourself go downhill either. We all see the way he looks at you and the way he protects you over anyone else...I think he feels more for you than he lets on."

Carol watched Tara walk over to the group with her mouth open in shock. Did she know something Carol didn't? Had Daryl said something to her? No...no, she was being ridiculous, Daryl didn't treat her any different than any other person in their group.

Putting the conversation in the back of her mind, Carol leaned against a nearby tree to eat her possum.

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"Check it out," Rosita pointed at a roadside sign as they walked up to it, "This town has a Bas Pro Shop."

For the first time in months, Daryl's eyes lit up as he raised his head to look at the sign for himself.

"You think we should risk the town?" Rick asked him quietly, "Could be guns, ammo, camping supplies, food..."

"Vehicles," Glenn sighed from behind Daryl, "If we could hotwire a car or two...that would be great."

Everyone murmured agreement at Glenn's statement and Daryl nodded in the affirmative so the group headed up the exit ramp towards the large store at the top of the hill.

"Alright, we do this smart and we do this quick," Rick stated as they walked, "Maggie, Glenn, Rosita and I will look for vehicles and gas once we are sure the parking lot is clear. The rest of you, check out the store but stay TOGETHER and watch each other's backs in there, it's a HUGE place. Get weapons and ammo first of all, food and water and all else comes second."

Everyone nodded, understanding their roles and acknowledging Rick's orders just as they topped the exit ramp. Surprisingly, the way up the hill looked pretty clear, but they couldn't see the parking lot from the ramp yet.

"Carol, stay close to Daryl and Tyreese," Rick said, placing a hand on Carol's arm as he spoke, "You're not quite ready to be on your own yet."

"I will, Rick," Carol assured him, "But trust me, I can take care of myself pretty well again. I'm healing well."

Rick nodded and took his place ahead of the group again, leading them up the steep grassy hill. When they reached the top, Carol's eyes widened in dismay...the parking lot was crawling with walkers.

"How many?" Abraham whispered, scanning the parking lot with a look of annoyance.

"Looks like...about 35," Daryl replied, shading his eyes from the sun as he counted, "I've only got four arrows."

"Damn," Tara said sadly, her shoulders slumping, "Place looks promising too."

Rick hadn't said anything during the exchange, Carol could see his mind turning over the situation. She saw his eyes scan the lot, saw his gaze linger on a large truck on the edge of the lot, and saw him nod slightly.

"That's our ticket," he said softly, "That black pickup. If we can get to it and hotwire it without being seen, we can drive it down the hill to the ramp here, we can all fit in it if some of us take the back."

"What if it doesn't have any gas?" Carol asked.

Rick made a motion with his head in a "well, there is that but..." way.

"Is it worth the risk?"

"Who's going to go for it?"

"Maggie?"

Everyone froze and looked back at Glenn who was looking wildly around. Maggie was nowhere to be seen in the group, but Carl pointed ahead with wide eyes and everyone turned to see Maggie charging up the hill, her machete raised.

"What the hell is she doing?!" Daryl yelled angrily, "She's gonna get herself killed!"

Glenn was on his feet and running after her before anyone could stop him and Tara followed a second after him.

"Damn it!" Rick growled and started running as well, leaving everyone else to follow, which they all did. Carol gulped as they crested the hill but she raised her pistol and took aim despite her heart pounding in her throat.

"What the fuck you doin'?" Daryl's voice growled in her ear and she felt him grab her arm and yank her to a halt, "You can't just charge into this, you're not even healed yet!"

"We need everyone, Daryl," Carol hissed, yanking her arm away, "We're outnumbered, we need everyone!"

Daryl eyed her for a second, his expression unreadable but the sound of the first gunshot made him step back and raise his crossbow defensively.

"Alright," he grumbled, "But you stay close to me, ya hear? CLOSE!"

Carol nodded and they stepped onto the pavement together and took aim. Carol blasted the eye socket right out of a plaid flannel clad walker and Daryl's bolt sunk solidly into a coverall wearing old man walker.

"This way," Carol said, pulling Daryl towards a van to their left. Daryl grabbed his bolt from the dead walker and followed her to where she was crouched by the rear tire, leaning out to take another shot at a walker that had gotten around behind Rosita.

"Good shot," Daryl commended her, "Come on, move forward."

They sprinted across a small space to the next car. Daryl sunk his hunting knife into a walker's skull that came around the front of the car and Carol scanned the lot for a new target. She saw Rick blast a walker's skull apart to their right and to their left, Glenn and Maggie were back to back slashing with their machetes.

"C'mon," Daryl snapped at her and they came around the car into the fray. Carol pulled her knife and took a deep breath as a walker came stumbling towards her. One swift jab into its skull and it was down.

"Back to back, circle formation!" Abraham's voice sounded loud and clear across the parking lot and Daryl and Carol made their way towards him. By the time they reached him, Glenn, Maggie and Carl were already forming a circle next to him and they joined in.

"Head for Tara and Rosita," Abraham ordered, "They're protecting Eugene."

The small circle pushed their way towards the trio where they were fighting near a white suv.

"Thank God," Rosita sighed as she backed into her spot in the circle, pushing Eugene behind her into the center. "There, by the red Chevy. Rick."

The circle began moving again, adding Rick and then Tyreese and Sasha to it as they made their way towards the center of the lot. Carol noticed happily that the walker's numbers were dwindling.

"Where's Noah?" Sasha asked.

"He's down the hill still, holding onto Judith until we clear this lot," Tyreese replied as he bashed a walker's head in with his hammer.

Michonne was still near the black truck, slicing and dicing three walkers as they approached, she was acting as Noah's guard. Carol sighed with relief that someone had thought about it...she wanted to smack herself for not thinking about Judith before she ran into the fight.

Finally, a silence fell over the parking lot. Carol looked out over the body strewn parking lot and nodded with satisfaction.

"We'll discuss this later," Rick growled at Maggie, then he nodded to the others, "You all know what to do. Michonne, tell Noah to bring Judith up."

"C'mon," Daryl tugged Carol's arm gently, "They'll handle the truck, we got some shoppin' to do."

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"Watermelon flavored salt water taffy," Sasha said grimly, rolling the bag of pink and green candies over in her hands.

"Better than nothing," Michonne said sadly, sifting through a pile of empty candy bar wrappers by the registers, "Not even a single Big Cat."

"We got a box of really gross protein bars here," Carl said, pulling a half smashed box out from under a collapsed shelf, "I was hidden under all these other boxes."

"I'll take gross protein bars over an empty stomach any day," Tyreese said as he opened up a long broken soda cooler, "We got a Pepsi in here, expired two years ago, oh, and one bottle of water. Lucky day!"

"Here," Carol picked up a hand basket from near the entry door and held it out for Tyreese to put his two bottles in and then for Sasha to toss in her taffy and Carl's bars, "Ok, keep looking, there must be more than that here. Daryl, Tara, Michonne and I will go look for ammo and weapons."

"Yes, ma'am," Tara saluted Carol with a smile.

"When did you take charge?" Daryl groused, but Carol saw his lips twitch with a slight smile, "But, she's right, we gotta check for ammo. Let's go."

The small group took off to the left side of the store, keeping their weapons high as they did a sweep of every aisle and corner on their way. Michonne found one walker down an aisle and silenced it quickly, but it was all quiet otherwise.

"Would ya look at that," Daryl said with grin, he pointed at the glass of the guns counter before vaulting over it to the other side. He leaned down and came up a moment later with a grin on his face, a pistol in his hand. "Glock. .40 caliber. Loaded but missing one bullet...it's in this dead guy's skull back here. Nice of him to leave us the rest."

Michonne chuckled and unlatched the little swing door of the counter, scanning the floor to the left as Daryl checked the right.

"Knife," Michonne announced, leaning down to pick up a white handled buck knife from under a pile of shattered glass. "Not bad."

"Don't see nothin' else back here," Daryl announced as he rolled the dead body over with his foot, "But a knife and a gun ain't bad considering what we usually find. Not many guns left in the stores these days."

"Daryl, check it out," Tara pointed with her knife over to the wall on their right, "Archery section."

Daryl's eyes lit up and he covered the ground in a few strides, eyes on the prize. Carol followed eagerly, glad to see him smiling for once.

"Oh, baby," Daryl's soft, deep voice hit her ears and her stomach did a flip, that was a tone she'd never heard out him before. She rounded the corner of the aisle and put her hand up to her mouth to stifle a giggle. Daryl held an unopened package of bright orange crossbow bolts in his hands, he was staring adoringly at them as he ran his right hand over them slowly and tenderly. "I've been lookin' everywhere for you."

"Been lookin' for you too, Pookie," Carol spoke up, trying to hide her laughter and be sexy.

Daryl whipped around, a blush creeping up his face to his ears.

"Carol! I...uh...found some bolts," he stuttered nervously.

"I see that," Carol nodded at the package, "You seem pretty pleased."

"Well...I only have four left..." Daryl replied lamely.

"Find anything? Oh great, a whole pack of bolts!? Where'd you find them?" Tara's excited squeal interrupted the tension and Daryl visibly relaxed. Carol smiled and shook her head as Daryl and Tara continued to scour the area.

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"We got a pistol, a buck knife, ten crossbow bolts, crossbow strings, two cans of bow wax and thirty two bullets of random calibers," Michonne laid out their finds on the number two register, "Oh, and one full box of twenty .40 caliber ammo hidden behind the gun counter, probably by the owner of the pistol."

"We got the protein bars, an expired Pepsi, a bottle of water, watermelon taffy, three sticks of Slim John's jalapeno jerky, one Almond Happy bar, a bag of salted pumpkin seeds and six packs of chewing gum," Carl laid out their food finds next to the weapons, "Two spearmint, one original, and three cinnamon."

"And these," Abraham tossed a full carton of Dromedary cigarettes onto the register, slipping one pack in his own pocket.

"You may come in handy after all," Daryl said in awe as he pulled a pack out for himself, lighting one up immediately, "Alright, Carl and Sasha, take all this out to Rick and the others. We're gonna go check out the rest of the store and see what we can find."

Carl and Sasha loaded the booty into two hand baskets and headed out to the parking lot, weapons ready as they slowly made their way out. The others headed deeper into the store towards the hunting and clothing sections.

"Here," Tyreese reached up and grabbed a long pole off a peg on the end of a long clothing shelf, "We can reach the clothes at the top that no one could reach during the lootings. No one thought to actually use this."

Carol clasped her hands in excitement as Tyreese hooked the hanger of a brown hoodie with the outline of a deer's head in white on the front.

"It's perfect for you, Abraham," she called out when she had read the tag, she tossed it to him, "Just your size and color."

Tyreese pulled down another hoodie that was plain grey and a big, brown canvas material coat then moved into the next aisle and pulled down several t-shirts.

"Take the jeans off that mannequin," Tara suggested, pointing up at a plastic mannquin torso, "They look about Rick's size and Lord know he needs them."

Tyrees knocked the mannequin off and Noah caught it to keep it from making a loud noise, the jeans were slipped off and added to the pile of clothing on the lower shelf to retrieve on their way out.

"Slip this on," Carol handed the grey hoodie to Noah and she pulled on two of the t-shirts, "If we have to run, at least we'll take what we have on our backs with us."

"Good thinking," Daryl, who had been keeping watch with Michonne agreed and put on the canvas coat, "Now make it quick and let's see what else is left here."

The shirts and jackets were on their bodies and Tara had the jeans slung over one arm so they moved on out of the aisle.

"Socks," Carol whispered to Tara and pointed at a bin to the right, Tara went over and looked in and then leaned over so far that Carol swore she was going to fall headfirst into it, but she stood back up and held out two pairs of gray socks triumphantly as she rejoined the group.

"Any shoes?" Michonne asked softly from the back, "Carl's outgrowing his so fast. Kid really needs new ones."

They scoured the rest of the clothing section and Michonne was overjoyed to find several pairs of shoes, all sizes larger than Carl's current shoes so these were all added to their stash. But three pairs of shoes and jeans and socks and packs of underwear and four belts were too much to carry so they placed the pile down where they could get it on the way out.

Fishing and hunting had some good finds: a couple water filter straws, some fold up cooking pans, a few freeze dried meals that had somehow been overlooked, a few thermal blankets, also several fishing poles and lots of tackle.

When they rounded the corner into the camping area, everyone's eyes went upwards to take in the strange sight above them: a large, egg-shaped thing hung from the rafters of the building, a ladder hung down from the small opening in the middle of it.

"What is that thing?" Michonne asked, her tone was confused and slightly amused.

"It's a tree tent," Daryl stated quietly. Carol turned to look at him and he was staring up at the tent thing with highly a very thoughtful expression, his eyes practically sparkling with interest.

"That's a tent?" she asked him, "How do you sleep in something like that? It doesn't look comfortable at all."

Daryl didn't answer, he just jerked his head for her to follow as the others began to look around the shelves behind them. Carol followed him up the rope ladder towards the hole that led into the hanging tent and when she looked inside her jaw dropped open in shock.

"Oh my god," she whispered, "This is...amazing!"

The inside was much larger than it looked from the outside. A large, round wood floor rested about a foot under the entry hole and to the left was an odd shaped bed that looked just big enough for two people, a nightstand with two drawers stood the foot of the bed, on the right side of the "room" was a table with two chairs, but the best part was the small woodstove that sat at the back side of the tent between the bed and table. It looked like a cave inside, a comfortable, waterproof cave with a freaking heat source!

"A person could LIVE in here," Carol stated as she crawled through the hole, she found they could even stand up straight in the center of the tent, "I never knew these even existed."

Daryl remained silent as he looked around the inside of the tent, he ran his hand along one of the metal bars that held the shape of the tent and shook it hard to test the strength.

"Damn sturdy too," he muttered, eyeing the place where the stovepipe exited to the outside, "Looks well sealed, don't think you'd have any leaks. It's even made of a material that won't get stuff wet if it touches the side."

Carol nodded eagerly. She HATED when she woke up with a wet back from laying against the side of her tent.

Daryl looked around a little while longer then sighed.

"C'mon, let's get what we can and blow this joint."

They mat back up with the others on the floor and helped take some their finds back to the pile of clothes. They had found a new sleeping bag, a hammer, and some of those butane lighters to use under a cookstove but that was it. They gathered their entire collection and assigned Noah and Michonne as walker patrol while the rest carried the stuff out to the parking lot.

Rick and his group had managed to hot wire the black truck and an eggplant colored van, both were filled up with fuel they had siphoned from the rest of the lot and they had managed to fill several of their empty gas cans for later. When all their belongings were packed into the back of the truck and secured, they all piled into the vehicles and left the Bass Pro Shop behind in Columbia, Missouri.

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**Just to set the scene. This is not going to follow whatever happens in 5B or beyond because I don't know what's going to happen. This is after the Alexandria Safety Zone and Hilltop and the group is making their way West to see what lies that way.**

**I set this in Missouri because I know it well and how to write it believably because I've been all over it and live here. This Bass Pro Shop does actually exist in CoMo (Columbia).**


	3. Separate Ways

**Been working on my Blade fic and my Boondock Saints fic, but my mind wouldn't get off this story so I'm gonna hit you all up with a new chapter :)**

**Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, you all make the writing worthwhile!**

**Also, this is post Alexandria Safe Zone but only just for timeline sake, what happened there has little to no affect on the characters in this fic, I'm just kind of making it a passing place, not their three year romp, Carl's destroyed face, etc thing. Simply for plot sake to get them in this area of the country.**

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The group made their way along the highway through Columbia extremely carefully, they may be on the edge of the large town but it was still too uncomfortable to be calm about the trip.

"Stadium Boulevard," Carl read the next exit sign out loud, "University of Missouri, Home of the Mizzou Tigers."

"Good team," Abraham admitted, "But I prefer KC."

"I prefer you all shut up and keep your eyes open," Daryl muttered, his whole body had been tense as they drove.

Carl and Abraham rolled their eyes, but they kept their weapons ready as they drove on. Suddenly, the truck screeched to a halt, causing Daryl's back to thump up against the cab of the truck and his head to smack the window.

"Shit!" Daryl grumbled, rubbing his tender skull and glaring through the window at Rick. "What the hell are you doing, Rick?"

"Look," Rick mumbled, pointing ahead. Daryl groaned and stood to his feet to look over the roof of the truck. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he took in the scene ahead of him. A group of vehicles blocked the highway, purposeful in their design...a roadblock. The kicker was the lettering scrawled across the Stadium Boulevard exit sign that read: MIZZOURAH SANCTUARY.

"Daryl, Abraham, get a few people and do a sweep," Rick stated quietly as he got out of the truck, "We need to have a group meeting."

Daryl, Abraham, Tara and Glenn did a quick sweep of the roadside to make sure everything was clear before they gathered around Rick to hear what he had to say.

"This is the reason we came this way," Rick began, his eyes scanning the group for their reaction, "That guy we met in Indiana told me this place was here, he said it was legitimate and safe. I made the decision to come here and I want to know what you all think about giving it a chance?"

The silence that met his statement was almost palpable, thick and heavy in the crisp Missouri Autumn air.

"Rick..." Glenn seemed aghast, "You led us here without even telling us?"

"That's not right!" Tara said shrilly.

"We should have had a say!" Sasha said grimly.

"ENOUGH!" Tyreese growled, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. "We all chose to follow Rick, to trust his decisions. He does what he thinks is best and we owe him our lives many times over."

"He's right," Maggie stated quietly. Her run up the hill earlier had reflected her still fragile state of mind, Beth's death may have been three months ago, but it was still deeply effecting many of them. Carol was surprised to hear Maggie speak up in Rick's defense considering her hostile attitude towards him for the last few months.

"No, he ain't," Daryl growled suddenly.

Everyone's eyes widened and all eyes went to the redneck who suddenly looked very hostile, his eyes burning fiercely as he squinted angrily at Rick.

"Daryl..." Rick began but Daryl made an angry grunting noise and shook his head, stepping out of the circle and scuffing the road with his boot.

"Naw, Rick, this is bullshit," he shouted, turning back and pointing an accusing finger at their leader, "All you ever do is lead us into fuckin' death traps! The farm, the prison, Terminus, Alexandria...now THIS!?"

Carol eyed Daryl in complete and utter shock, she hadn't seen him like this since Merle had been left behind in Altlanta.

"Why should we follow you again? Anywhere you think is safe ends up getting us killed! If you had just shot the Governor, the prison wouldn't have been taken over and we wouldn't be split up! Beth would still be alive if you'd just had the balls to make a decision without trying to negotiate with that madman! It all comes back to you thinking you could make him see reason!"

"Stop it, Daryl!" Maggie cried, tears spilling down her face, "It wasn't Rick's fault!"

Daryl scoffed and laughed.

"You were the one blamin' him a few days ago," he growled at Maggie.

"I was wrong," she replied quietly, clearly not wanting to argue.

"Guys..." Glenn said nervously, he shook Rick's arm and pointed towards the exit sign. Everyone turned to see a group of men emerging from the overgrown roadside grass, all clad in forest camouflage and armed with various guns.

"That's plenty enough," one of men said as Daryl reached for his crossbow, his gun raised threateningly, "State your business or we won't hesitate to shoot you where you stand."

"Ya'll make enough noise to bring the dead runnin' for miles," another of the men said with a hint of humor in his tone.

The group spread apart to let Rick step forward and represent them as he always did, it was their second nature now to follow Rick's lead.

"My name is Rick Grimes, I heard about your sanctuary from a man named Kinder, Mike Kinder," Rick stated diplomatically, "He told me this place was safe, secure. We want to join you."

The men exchanged looks, clearly recognizing Kinder's name.

"Mike's alive?" one of them, a large man in a camo ball cap asked, "Did he have a woman with him? Two young boys?"

Rick shook his head.

"No, he said he was on his way to Ohio to find his family," he replied, "He hadn't got there yet. He said we'd be safe here."

Carol saw the men relax slightly, their guns still raised but their eyes were less hard and threatening. The large man, apparently the leader, finally nodded and lowered his shotgun.

"What's your story, Rick Grimes?" he asked.

Rick explained where they had come from, the things they had all gone through and the troubles they'd faced. The camo clad men listened intently and with interest, their gazes flitting around the group as Rick's story unfolded.

"We can offer your group sanctuary, in return all we ask is that you each contribute to our compound with your individual skills," the leader finally stated when Rick had finished introducing them all, "But I'll tell you right now...we don't want anyone in her that's gonna cause problems."

All eyes went to Daryl who was still seething off to the side of the group, he stared right back at the blonde leader and snorted angrily.

"That's fine," he said darkly.

Carol's heart dropped at those words and she watched in horror as Daryl began to back away from them, his eyes hard and determined.

"No," she whispered, her shock made her voice thin and strained but she forced herself to speak louder, "No!"

"Carol," Rick's voice in her ear was soft and smooth, "It's his decision. You and I both know, you can't make Daryl Dixon do anything he doesn't want to do."

Carol pulled her arm from Rick's hand and lurched forward, her legs felt like lead as she forced them towards Daryl. He eyed her grimly as she stopped in front of him.

"Don't go, Daryl," she whispered, her eyes pleading hard with him to change his mind, "Please, we need you here...I need you here."

"Don't, Carol," he said quietly, "I can't stay here. I'm not going through this again."

Carol watched him for a moment, taking in his expression. She saw the anger, but underneath it she saw fear...and pain. She imagined he was seeing Beth and Hershel and Dale again in his mind, imagining ways they could have been saved. She could sympathize with his thought process, but to leave the group...this was more than she ever imagined he'd been feeling.

"Please..." she asked once more time, but he simply shook his head and took a step back. Carol knew what she had to do. "Then I'm coming with you."

A collective gasp rose from the group behind her but she ignored it, focusing instead on Daryl's look of surprise. He was looking at her intently, his eyebrows scrunched in thought.

"You should stay with them," he said softly, but she saw a look of relief in his eyes.

"Maybe I should," she replied, "But I'm not. I'm not letting you go off alone again, not after everything we've been through."

Daryl smiled then, his eyes softened and the anger disappeared. He jerked his head in a 'follow me' motion and he turned his back on the group, heading back the way they came. Carol glanced over her shoulder, trying to display all that she was feeling in her expression...but there was no time to say goodbyes, she had made her choice and she had to follow him.

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**I know this is short and maybe even a little rushed, but it's setting up for the future premise of the story :) **

**What ya'll think so far? Review and let me know what you think of the turn of events :D**


	4. Location, Location

**Back from my stupid mandatory staff meeting that started at freaking 7:30 AM...I am EXHAUSTED, but my brain is going a mile a minute with ideas for this story so I decided to get it out before I crash. **

**Got my fat black cat sitting on the couch beside me and I just wanted to let you know that he's ridiculously cute ;)**

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Carol didn't speak as she followed Daryl down the road and he didn't seem eager for chit chat anyway, but the silence was actually kind of good after his outburst back there at the roadblock. They walked on, carefully watching for walkers as they went.

"We need a truck," Daryl's gruff voice sounded like a gunshot cutting through the long silence, it made Carol jump a bit in surprise.

"A truck?" she asked lamely.

"Or we can walk back to the Bas Pro if you'd rather," Daryl said with a smile. Carol scrunched her eyebrows at him, wondering why on Earth he was smiling.

"Why are we going back there?" she asked, following Daryl as he walked towards a massive black Dodge Ram that was sitting on the side of the road a ways down.

"We'll discuss this later," was the only answer she got.

Daryl tried the door on the truck and he smiled when it opened, Carol opened the passenger side door and looked inside.

"The keys are in there," she told Daryl. He reached around the steering wheel and turned the key, the sound that the truck made told them it was out of gas.

"I'll look around," Carol told him, pointing towards a small snaggle of vehicles on the other side of the split highway. She crossed ditch and did a clear sweep of the cars before she began her search for gas. These cars looked like they'd been in a pileup as they fled the town, this usually meant they had gas unless the tank was damaged somehow. Searching around, she managed to find a conatiner but she had no way of siphoning the gas out to fill it.

"Need this?" Daryl asked, holding out a section of garden hose "Found it in the truck bed, cut ya a section."

Carol smiled and took the hose, getting to work emptying the first car's tank. She handed the container of gas to Daryl for him to go put into the truck and she pried open the next tank.

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"I think we need to address the elephant in the room," Carol said quietly as they drove back towards the Bass Pro exit, "What happened back there?"

Daryl raised his hand to nervously chew on his thumb, so Carol waited patiently for him to organize his thoughts.

"It wasn't really supposed to happen like this," he finally answered, staring straight ahead.

"Of course not," Carol replied sadly, "I never would have guessed it could ever happen like this. I don't get it, Daryl, how can we just be walking away from our people? Our family?"

"Nobody made you leave with me," Daryl muttered grimly.

Carol whipped her head around to fix him in her angry gaze.

"Don't you dare say that to me, Daryl Dixon!" she snapped, "You gave me no choice. Did you honestly think for one second I was just going to let you walk away? After everything we've been through together, you thought I'd just let you leave?"

"I had to, Carol."

"No, Daryl, you didn't."

"Are you gonna let me explain?"

Carol crossed her arms angrily over her chest, letting out a huff. She turned her head to stare out the window at the passing buildings.

"Rick and I have had this planned since Indiana," Daryl's words made Carol go perfectly still, "When Rick talked to that guy about it, he wanted to believe it was safe but he wasn't willing to risk it after everything we've been through. I reminded him that Terminus only turned out ok because we were separated and you saved us...so I offered to stay outside the sanctuary and be there in case things went South."

Carol's mouth spread into a wide smile and she turned in her seat to look at the man next to her, she reached out and rested her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I knew it," she whispered, "I knew you couldn't leave that easily."

"This ain't easy at all," Daryl said grimly, and he looked over and locked eyes with her. "But it's a lot easier now that you're along. I'm glad you came with me."

"I don't know what you'd ever do without me, Daryl." Carol teased.

Daryl didn't say anything, he just smiled and then looked back at the road. Inside, however, he ran that thought over in his mind...and he wonder what he really would have done without her.

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They drove out of town a few miles just to make sure and shake anyone who may have been watching to see if they left town, spending the night in the truck as extra assurance. Now, the morning light found them parked in the empty lot of the Bass Pro shop.

"What are we doing here?" Carol asked quietly as they scanned the area for walkers, "We already looked for supplies here."

"We need to set up a place for us to stay near town and keep an eye on things," Daryl replied simply, "Somewhere close but secret enough to keep hidden. There's a few fields just across the highway here, with plenty of woods and a creek. We'll set up there."

"You guys really thought this out, huh?" Carol was impressed with their secretive planning.

"We had to keep it secret," Daryl said, sounding unhappy about the whole thing, "If everyone in the group had known, it would have been harder to convince the people in the sanctuary I was leaving."

Carol nodded, knowing he was right. They finished their sweep and went inside the building, clearing it as they headed back towards the now empty camping section.

"That's what we want," Daryl pointed up at the round tree tent they had inspected last time they were here, "It's going to be our best chance of establishing a long term camp. If we're in the trees we're safe from Walkers."

Carol nodded, realizing now why he'd been so interested in the tent last time they were here. She had to admit...the thought of spending some time in that cozy tent with Daryl sounded intriguing.

"It's fully furnished too," she quipped, grinning as she climbed up the rope ladder to get another look at it. Daryl stood at the bottom, smiling up at her.

"Already set up too," he agreed, "I bet this was a pain in the ass to put together. I figure we can use the back roll up doors to get the truck in and lower this thing right into the bed of it."

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Carol called down as she stepped into the tent. She took a good long look at it again, this time picturing it as a makeshift home. The bed was already equipped with a mattress, sheets, two pillows and a pine green comforter and she opened the drawers of the small dresser by the foot to assess storage capability. The table, she discovered, was a fold up table that would fold onto the tent wall by a metal hook and loop. The chairs could go, she mused.

"What are you doing up there?" Daryl's voice came from below and Carol poked her head out and grinned.

"Just figuring out what we need and don't need," she replied, "I'm gonna toss one of these chairs."

She picked up a chair and hung it out the tent entrance dropping it down to Daryl who set it aside.

"Come on down," Daryl called, "We only got so much daylight. We gotta get this thing set up unless you wanna sleep in the truck again."

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"A little closer," Carol called, motioning Daryl to back the truck up towards the tent, "A little more...more...almost...THERE! Perfect."

Daryl turned off the truck and got out to stand next to Carol and assess the situation. The tent was held up by four heavy chains attached to the beams of the ceiling, a pulley device had been used to raise it and Daryl assumed he could use it to lower it slowly into the bed of their truck.

"Ok, I'll run the lever," he said, moving around Carol to head to the wall where the pulley lever was. "You let me know when it gets down enough to release."

Carol nodded and watched as the tent was lowered notch by notch until it came to a stop in the truck bed and she raised her hand to let Daryl know it was settled in.

"M'kay," he called, "Come over here by me."

Carol went to him and Daryl released the lever, letting the chains fall from the pulley and down to the floor. Carol jumped at the loud crash of the chains as they hit the truck's roof and she noticed Daryl flinch and look around like Walkers would come running from every corner.

"That was fucking loud," he murmured, brushing his hands on the front of his pants, "Alright, let's get those chains in and get out of here."

Together, they secured the tent down to the truck with the chains and left the store, heading back out the highway, heading north west towards the field Daryl had mentioned.

"How do we get to the woods?" Carol asked as they took another exit heading further out of town.

"Dirt farm roads," Daryl stated simply, and soon enough he pointed to the right and turned them onto a dirt road that led towards the woods. After a while they turned off the road onto what was basically two dirt lines in the grass that led straight into one of the fields.

"How about there?" Carol asked, pointing to a group of trees in the field.

"Naw," Daryl shook his head and laughed, "Too open. Don't you get the idea of being hidden, woman? We gotta go deeper into the trees."

""Oh," Carol blushed, feeling silly for suggesting the location, "Well...there's an opening into the trees there."

Daryl nodded in agreement and headed for the opening, it was just large enough to get through the trees and after a little bit they came out into a good sized clearing and Daryl stopped the truck in the center of it.

"C'mon," he said, opening his door and stepping out. He scanned the woods for threats before he began examining to clearing. The trees formed in an almost perfect half circle around them and the ground dropped off at one side where the creek ran by.

"This is perfect," Daryl claimed, nodding in satisfaction, "Secluded. We got a water source here. These trees are solid enough to hold the weight of the tent."

"Then let's get it up!" Carol said, she was feeling so excited to get this camp set up for some reason. Daryl laughed and nodded, his eyes scanning the trees and taking in the area.

"Ok," he began slowly, "These four trees are the biggest so we'll attach the chains to them. I'll attach the top chain to the truck and we'll pull it up and secure each chain one at a time. Alright, you go let the rope ladder out and get all the stuff out."

Carol nodded and did as she was told. When she had gotten everything laid out on the grass she looked around for Daryl and found him climbing up one of the tallest trees on the edge of the clearing, she watched with her stomach in knots as he edged out onto a thick branch high above her.

"Alright, back the truck over here," he called down. He straddled the branch and tossed the truck keys down to her and she backed it up.

"Now what?" she called up to him as she got out of the cab.

"I'm gonna climb down and hook the pulley up here on this branch," Daryl replied, backing up off the branch and beginning his long climb down.

Carol waited for him at the base of the tree and walked with him around the truck to the back. Daryl got into the bed with the tent and lifted the heavy pulley out, grunting with the effort of lifting it.

"Ok, damn, this is gonna have to be done in a few steps," he grumbled, setting the pulley back down, "Ok, I'm gonna take the chain with me and you hook the pulley on the end so I can pull it up, alright?"

After a few more times of Daryl climbing the tree, he got the pulley set up and Carol was in the truck, ready to drive and pull the tent up into the trees. She cheered happily when the makeshift system worked and the tent rose quickly into the trees, she stopped the truck when Daryl raised his hand and she put the parking brake on to keep it from rolling back.

"Alright...now what?" she asked, watching the tent swing precariously above them.

"We secure the other four chains," Daryl told her with a sigh, "Can you climb?"

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By the time the tent was up and secured tightly to the trees, preventing the tent from swinging, it was getting close to sun set and Carol was exhausted from the work.

"I bet this would be so much simpler if we weren't using caveman type technology," she groaned, stretching her back and sighing at it popped deliciously loud.

"At least we had a truck," Daryl said with a grim half smile, "Now come on, let's get some sleep...we got a lot to do tomorrow."

Together, they carried up the chair and the dresser and stood in their tent grinning at eachother.

"I feel pretty damn proud of us for getting this thing up here!" Carol announced happily, "I am pretty sure this is going to be the best sleep I've had in years!"

"Me too," Daryl yawned, proving his point. He kicked off his boots and plopped down on the bed, laying his head on his arms and staring up at the ceiling of the tent. Caryl looked at him for a long time, realizing now that they were going to be sharing this bed...

"Daryl, are you ok with us sleeping together like this?" she asked. She was totally fine with it, but she didn't want him to be uncomfortable.

He nodded, not meeting her eyes and scooted over to give her room beside him. Too tired to even think too hard about it, Carol laid down beside him and pulled the comforter up over them both. The glorious warmth of Daryl's body s close beside her made her fall into a deep, dream filled sleep.

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**This chapter was a bit rushed too, but this is how it came out so I hope it's not too awful. I'm a little distracted tonight by tons of stuff but I wanted to pump out a chappie for you all. The next chapter will be lots of scavenging and home-making fun and we shall get into the good stuff soon ;)**

**Lots of love to you readers! Read and review :)**


	5. Carol's Drug

**I've had many reviews saying you guys enjoy detailed scavenging and realistic runs, well this chapter is going to be all about that stuff so enjoy :)**

**Have to get the set up in all of your minds to make the future chapters more character focused.**

**Also, if you haven't yet, I suggest googling "Round Tree Tents Inside" and prepare to be amazed!**

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"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" Carol poked Daryl in the arm until his glorious blue eyes cracked open and glared at her. Grumbling, he turned onto his side and faced the tent wall with his back to her which only fueled Carol's agenda to wake him up. She yanked the comforter off of him and the battle was won, he let out a growl but sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"God, Carol, first good sleep in forever and you can't even let a guy enjoy it?" he mumbled as he swung his legs off the bed. He stood and stretched his arms over his head, quickly dropping his neck to either side to crack his neck, working out the kinks from the night's sleep.

"We have a lot to do today," Carol reminded him, slipping on her jacket.

Daryl nodded in agreement as he sat back down on the bed to pull his boots on. Today they were going to get their living supples: food, water containers, wood, etc. It was going to be a long day and they needed to get moving as soon as they could.

"I have a question," Carol said slowly as they stood outside under their tent which was a good thirty feet above them, "How do we raise the ladder while we're gone so no one gets in?"

Daryl looked at her blankly for a moment then blinked, looking slightly confused.

"Shit...I didn't think of that," Daryl admitted, looking very embarrassed. Carol eyed the ladder for a moment, thinking hard.

"I got it!" she said, snapping her fingers, "We make a long pole like a shepherd's staff only with the curve upside down, we can hook the ladder up and then use it to unhook it from the ground."

Daryl looked at her incredulously but a grin spread over his face slowly as he comprehended the contraption in his mind. He looked around until he found a thick, curved piece of a branch on the ground and handed it to her.

"Here, you take that and see if you can secure it up there," he said, backing away, "I'll look for some sturdy branches to make the pole out of."

Carol nodded and climbed back up the ladder. She looked around for a while, trying to figure out how to make this work and finally had to admit defeat.

"Daryl, I'm gonna need either nails or something to tie it with," she called down to where Daryl was laying out some long, thick sticks.

"Same here," he admitted, "Guess we'll have to leave it down this once."

"It'll be fine," Carol assured him, lightly tugging his arm as she headed towards the truck parked in the clearing, "Want to make a list of things we'll need?"

"Ain't no point," Daryl responded gruffly, "These days you take what you can find and make it work."

Carol had to admit he was right.

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Daryl parked the truck in the empty parking lot and looked around in surprise and confusion. The lot was littered with motionless walkers.

"Do you think someone's in there?" Carol asked quietly.

"Naw," Daryl replied, "These have been dead for a while it looks like...I just wonder why there aren't more walking around."

Carol had to admit, it was strange...and unsettling. Everywhere they went was usually full of walkers, or at least had a few roaming around, this place was eerily silent and the store's glass doors were shattered so she knew they weren't just waiting inside the building.

"Well..." she said slowly, "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. This just means we can scavenge without being inconvenienced. That's gonna be weird."

Daryl nodded, not looking convinced still. He drove the truck up as close to the doors as possible and they got out carefully, it was just second nature these days to be extra cautious.

"Come on," Daryl whispered as they entered the store, the big windows of the entrance made a lot of the store well lit, but Daryl pulled out his flashlight to let her know they'd have light for the back, "Let's see what's left."

Carol nodded silently and followed behind him with her rifle in her hands, always ready.

They headed to the very back first, clearing the entire store as they went...but they didn't see a walker, dead or moving.

"Something drew them all outside," Daryl muttered, shining his flashlight along a trail of blood that led back towards the door.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Carol asked.

"Well it means people have already been in here a lot," Daryl replied with a shrug, "But it means no walkers for us to deal with. Keep it tight all the same."

They continued their clear just for safety's sake and ended up near the backdoors that led out to a large area in the back full of lumber and sheds and fencing and all sorts of yard decor. Daryl wiped off the glass and stared out for a while, his mind obviously working hard.

"We could really use some of that stuff," he finally said, breaking the silence, "Make the clearing safer."

Carol eyed the steel picket fencing and nodded eagerly. Material that strong and sharp would help keep walkers deterred and would probably impale any that tried to get over.

"That fencing," she pointed it out, her mind filled with walkers stuck to the sharp arrow-like points on the bars.

Daryl looked at her for a moment, then he grinned.

"I like the way you think, Carol," he said, sliding the door open and raising his crossbow to clear the yard if needed. It was all clear.

Carol saw a dolly off near the wall and she rolled it over to where Daryl was standing to examine the fencing.

"We can use this to get it back to the truck," she stated.

Daryl nodded and began loading sections of fencing on it, stopping after a moment to count them and determine how many they would need.

"We'll have to make a few trips," Carol said after the sixth fence piece. Daryl nodded and nudged her aside with his hip to take the handles from her which she allowed him to do with a smile. They wheeled the fence pieces back to the truck and loaded them into the bed and returned to the yard for more. After several trips, they had every piece of fencing in the pile into their truck.

"I think we should take a bunch of the lumber too," Carol stated as she wiped some sweat off her face from the effort of lifting the fencing.

"Next trip," Daryl stated simply, "We won't have any room for much. We can grab a few boards but let's focus on getting the good stuff."

Carol nodded and they grabbed about six boards to take with them this time. Carol didn't know exactly why she wanted the wood...it just felt right.

Daryl looked around them, scanning the yard for anything else they would need. When he was satisfied that they had gotten everything they needed for the time being, they headed inside to search for the smaller but more important items they would need.

"There," Carol pointed towards a section of shelving that was still fairly full.

"It's all beauty stuff," Daryl huffed.

"No it's not, it's toothpaste and toothbrushes," Carol said as they got closer. When they reached the shelved she took down a tube of toothpaste and opened it, giving it an experimental sniff and then squirting a tiny bit out to taste it. "Does toothpaste ever expire?"

"Not a clue," Daryl shrugged. He leaned shined his flashlight down the aisle and walked to where a handbasket was sitting on the floor and picked it up to fill with their finds. "Here ya go."

Carol nodded her thanks and took the basket, tossing several tubes of toothpaste and a handful of toothbrushes into it.

"You'll thank me later when you don't get cavities," she said sternly when Daryl looked at her funny, "Grab me a few bottles of that mouthwash."

Daryl complied and followed her silently along the aisle, watching this woman as she grabbed seemingly pointless things off the shelves. The next thing she took were all the lip balms left on every peg, twelve whole packs of three each.

"You'll thank me when you finally get rid of those chapped lips," she told him as they rounded the end of the aisle and went down the next one. This one was hair care and Carol was grinning like crazy.

"What are you smiling at?" Daryl asked as she looked through the remaining shampoo and conditioner bottles.

"I haven't washed my hair since Alexandria," she replied, popping a bottle open to smell it. "I am looking forward to being clean again."

"Guess we need this then too," Daryl tossed a pack of combs at her.

"Good job," Carol teased, "You're getting the hang of this hygiene thing."

She eyed the black hair ties beside Daryl for a moment and burst into laughter, causing him to clap a hand over her mouth and look at her in shock, it was so unlike her to be so loud in a situation like this.

"I'm sorry," she whispered when he removed his hand, "I just...was wondering what you would look like with a ponytail."

Daryl eyed her for a long time before moving on without a word towards the next aisle. Carol grabbed several shampoo and conditioner bottles and followed him, still giggling at the image in her mind.

"Let's take that to the truck," Daryl said, eyeing the full basket. They took their goods to the truck and found three more handbaskets at the registers to fill with goodies.

"Why hasn't this place been picked through more?" Carol wondered out loud as she dropped several bottles of Aveeno lotion into Daryl's left hand basket.

"Because people are trying to survive, not win beauty contests," Daryl mumbled as he eyed the bottles.

"Stop whining, Daryl," Carol admonished him, reaching on her tip toes for the only remaining bottle of sunscreen on the top shelf, "If we're gonna be living in a tiny tent together, we should smell better."

Daryl seemed successfully told off so she continued on down the aisle where she grabbed all the bars of Irish Spring soap left on the shelf, she loved the way it smelled.

Daryl had caught on to her plan of grabbing pretty much everything that remained and took all the sticks of deodorant left in the racks while Carol smelled all the body wash bottles to select the kind she wanted...there was plenty to choose from. She settled on the coconut and shea butter and cool cucumber scented ones.

As they walked through the next aisle Carol heard the sound of plastic being moved around and she turned around to look at Daryl with a grin on her face, he froze in mid grab with a pack of feminine pads in his hand and his blush was visible even in the dark of the store.

"You...uh...need these, right?" he asked sheepishly.

Carol shook her head and looked down at the floor.

"After Sophia was born, Ed made me get a hysterectomy," she whispered, "I don't get periods anymore...and I'll never be able to have kids again."

Daryl silently removed the items from his basket, dropping them on the floor wordlessly. They stood in silence for a while, looking at the packages on the tiles, lost in thought.

"C'mon," Daryl finally said, his voice soft and gentle and he laid his hand on her arm as he passed her in the aisle, "We got a lot more to look for."

Carol nodded silently, her mind filled with thoughts of Sophia and the girls as she followed him out of the feminine hygiene section.

Daryl was already in the next aisle, dropping nail clippers and tweezers and loufas on top of his deodorant collection so she scanned the shelves behind him and collected all the razors that remained there as well as several bottles of sensitive skin shaving cream...she got terrible razor burn and if she could prevent it, she damn well would!

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"Eureka!"

Carol's sad thoughts vanished as she picked through the bags of cough drops on the floor, several had been opened and the contents taken but she found about five bags still sealed.

"Here ya go," Daryl tossed her two boxes of effervescent cold and flu fighting tablets which she happily added to her cough drops, "And we got...vitamin C supplements and some of those chalky antacid pills."

"Awesome," Carol said, genuinely delighted to see the medicine. They hadn't had decent meds since the prison. "Let's check under the shelves too in case anything got pushed under or rolled."

Daryl nodded and got down on his hands and knees to peer under his shelf, he reached under and Carol's heart squeezed in excitement as he pulled out a bottle of night time cough syrup that he eyed with disgust.

"This shit is nasty," he griped, rolling the bottle towards where she was kneeling to look under her own shelf. It bumped off her head and she looked up at him with a fake frown. "Sorry."

Carol just laughed lightly and scanned under her shelf...empty. She sat back up and felt very disappointed.

"You really get into this scavenging thing," Daryl said casually, "You got way too excited about those cough drops."

Carol blushed. He was right, she DID enjoy it way too much. There was a thrill to scavenging that she felt every time she found something useful...almost like a kind of high. She would never admit it to him though.

Daryl walked over and offered a hand to help her up, which she took with a smile, and they sauntered into the next section.

Carol took everything from the entire section: three packs of gauze pads, five Ace bandages, six boxes of two instant cold packs, eight rolls of cloth tape and six boxes of bandaids.

"These are definitely going on your boo boos," she teased as she examined the box of Disney princess bandaids.

"Shut up," Daryl muttered as they moved on.

They found several tubes of anti itch cream, two bottles of aspirin that had rolled under the shelves, a bottle of ibuprofen, a box of Midol, a tube of triple antibiotic cream and three bottles of sore muscle rub and the medication sections were wiped out.

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The grocery section was where they struck gold according to Daryl. They took every single thing on the shelves that was still edible and made out like bandits.

Carol kept a running tally in her mind, she felt like she would burst with happiness at their finds.

Three bags of brown sugar (slightly lumpy but still good), two jars of marshmallow cream that had almost made Daryl squeal with delight, several containers of salt and pepper, an array of spices and extracts, a whole case of bottle water, two boxes of most likely stale Cheerios, five boxes of assorted instant oatmeal, ten cans of assorted fruits and eleven cans of assorted vegetables, a box of Cheezits, a tin of sour cream and onion Pringles, two bags of pretzel sticks and four packs of vanilla wafer sticks,

Carol grabbed several plastic storage containers, all the plastic wrap and tin foil, and the rest of the Ziploc bags for good measure and met Daryl at the registers just across the walkway where he stood proudly displaying his two buckets of 140 serving MREs and a pile of assorted candy bars from the register.

They loaded their haul and headed back to their tent, grinning ear to ear.

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**I really intended for this chapter to be longer and more in depth but it's 11:30 and I have to be up by five and my husband just walked in and said "If you want sex, you better come to bed because I'm going to sleep."**

**Well...I DO want sex so I am ending this chapter here. I will be doing more scavenging in the next chappie!**

**Read and review so I have something to read tomorrow while I clean the ambulance base and wash the truck :) Love to all my readers!**


	6. All That's Left

**Sorry it's been a little while since the last chappie. I've had EMT refresher class on my days off for 8 hours every day so I haven't had time or energy to write in the last few weeks.**

**But it's over! So let's move forward!**

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"We need concrete mix," Daryl stated matter of fact as he eyed the metal fence pieces, "If we anchor this fence with concrete the geeks won't be able to knock it over at least."

"Makes sense," Carol agreed, gently setting down the fence piece she'd taken from the truck so it wouldn't make noise. "I'll tell you one thing, I bet that's something no one thought to loot."

Daryl gave her a quick grin and began helping her unload the rest of the fence. They laid the lumber aside in the clearing for when they needed it and began relaying their other items up into the tent.

"You know what we need?" Carol sighed as she met Daryl halfway on the ladder for the fifth time, "A box on a rope so we can pull stuff up to the tent. You know, like little kids have for their tree houses."

"Not a bad idea," Daryl replied, handing her up another basket, "We'll work on it."

"We need to make a list of things we need to do to make this place more like a home," Carol said, more to herself than anything.

"Go ahead and make one," Daryl replied, "We can knock it out in a few days, I bet."

"Let's just worry about getting all this stuff up here first," Carol rolled her eyes.

Once Daryl handed up the final basket, he joined her in the now very crowded tent. Carol looked around in dismay.

"Where do we put all this?" she asked, pushing a bag of brown sugar over so she could sit down.

"Look at this," Daryl smiled. He moved aside the dresser at the foot of the bed to reveal a small hatch that he opened and gestured for her to look in. Carol was delighted to see a storage area underneath the boards of the floor big enough to keep plenty of supplies in.

"Perfect!" she laughed and began to hand him things to put in the compartment. It didn't all fit though. "We're gonna need a bigger tent."

"Naw," Daryl shrugged, "Just another one."

"Another trip?" Carol asked, already knowing the answer.

"Another trip."

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The sun was setting low in the sky when they returned, exhausted from their second run of the day. They had indeed located several bags of concrete mix and some buckets to mix it in as well as a second display tent that was quite smaller than their current one.

"Alright," Daryl hopped out of the truck and did a scan of the clearing, "Get up in the tent, woman."

"Why?" Carol asked, heading for the rope ladder anyway. She trusted him even if she didn't see or hear the reason for his command.

"Walker by the fence pile," Daryl said as they began climbing. Carol heard the familiar growling noises and she felt anger bubble up inside her as she climbed even faster, swinging up into the tent and turning to take Daryl's crossbow from him as he reached the top, she felt that familiar relief as he stepped in the tent beside her and pulled the rope ladder up and away from the walker's clutching fingers as it shambled towards where they'd disappeared.

"First one we've seen in these woods," Carol commented grimly, "Where there's one there's more."

"Don't worry about it," Daryl stated, placing his hand on her shoulder to move her aside from the entrance. He aimed down and put a bolt solidly into the top of the walker's skull. "We're safe up here. Ain't seen a geek that could climb yet. Or fly."

"Thank God for that!" Carol laughed, "Flying walkers..."

The image that came to her mind was ludicrous, walkers in hot air balloons, walkers on handgliders, walkers with jetpacks...and she totally lost it. Carol clutched her stomach and fell back onto the bed, laughing like a hyena at the psychotic images running through her mind's eyes. Daryl simply watched her with a half smile on his lips.

When Carol finally came to her senses Daryl was sitting beside her on the bed, unlacing his boots. Sitting up, Carol watched him closely as he removed his vest and laid it gently on the dresser.

"Was that Merle's vest?" she asked softly.

Daryl froze, his eyes fixed on one of the metal beams of the tent, and then he nodded with a sigh.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"It just looks like something he would have seen in a store and wanted," Carol explained, "It's so...decorative and I know you're a simple, practical man. But now that I've always seen you in it, it looks like it belongs to you more than him."

"It's the only thing I have left of him," Daryl said quietly. Carol felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably, she hadn't meant to start this. She glanced down at her wrist where her daughter's hair tie made a make-shift bracelet.

"This is all I have left of Sophia," she whispered, she felt her eyes start to brim with tears. No amount of walkers with jetpacks could take away that ache she was feeling now.

Daryl turned his head to look at what she was referring to and he grimaced slightly when she looked up at him with her teary eyes.

"Ain't we just a pair?" he said gently, taking a seat on the bed again and reaching out to take her hand and inspect the hair tie.

"She wanted me to put it in a pony tail just before we ran into the traffic snarl," Carol told him, trying to ignore the goosebumps forming on her arm at his touch, "I slipped it on my wrist real quick and we went to check out the cars...I never got to put her hair up."

Silence fell between them for a long time, but Daryl held on to her hand through it, absentmindedly rubbing it with his thumbs as he stared blankly at the stove. Finally, he realized it and he let go quickly, standing up and pretending to investigate the stovepipe. Carol turned her head and fiddle with a loose thread on the comforter.

"We need to get some wood for this," Daryl muttered, opening the tiny stove's door, "It's gonna get real cold soon."

"Tomorrow we will," Carol assured him, "But for now let's relax and rest. We worked hard today and we deserve it."

"I ain't tired though," Daryl said grumpily, "I hate being copped up. I'm gonna go find us some wood."

Carol stood and joined him by the tent door as he unzipped it. Just as she thought, a group of walkers were shambling through the clearing, paying no mind to the tent above them as they went.

"Damn," Daryl growled quietly.

"Damn." Carol agreed, suddenly feeling the cold more after the thought of a wood fire. "Well, now what do we do?"

"We should probably eat something."

Carol's grumbling stomach agreed with him and she grabbed the backpack Tara had given them back on the road off the table, dumping the contents on the bed. Six of the "gross" protein bars from the shop fell out, the bottle of water, two jerky sticks, two packs of gum and a deck of playing cards. Carol smiled, how thoughtful of Tara to pack this for them.

"Protein bar or jerky?" she asked, holding one of each up for Daryl to choose. He took the jerky and Carol ripped open her protein bar, taking a small bite of the stale cherry-chocolate rectangle as she picked up the playing cards.

"Merle and I used to play poker all the time," Daryl commented as he opened his jerky.

"Ed used to have a poker group that came to our house a lot," Carol said, setting the cards back down, "I was never allowed to join in, of course, but I learned a lot by watching."

Daryl sniffed in amusement and gave her a cocky half grin.

"I could whoop you any day at poker," he said confidently.

"Maybe you could," Carol shrugged, "Maybe one day we'll find out. But, right now, I am completely ready to go to sleep."

Daryl moved the backpack off the bed and shoved its contents back in so Carol could lay down on the bed.

"You coming to bed too?" Carol asked, hopefully. To be honest, she wanted a repeat of the night before, his warmth surrounding her as she drifted off to sleep.

"Naw," Daryl said, and Carol saw the shy blush creep into his cheeks, "I, uh, got some stuff I gotta do."

Carol swallowed her disappointment and acknowledge him with a nod. Just before she closed her eyes, she saw him reach out and touch the wings on his vest, his fingers lightly tracing the shape...she knew he was thinking of Merle.

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Carol woke up unable to move her arm and she almost panicked...until she realized why. Daryl had joined her in bed some time during the night and he was facing her back, his arm laid over her as he snored lightly. Carol smiled and very carefully began to wiggle away from him so she could get up but his arm tightened at her movement and he snorted and grumbled in his sleep as he yanked her flush into him. Carol wanted to giggle at the situation but she was cut off by a sensation against her butt...a very firm sensation.

"Ok, Carol..." she whispered to herself, "Just relax...don't spook him."

After a few minutes of waiting, Daryl's arm released her and he turned over onto his back and began to snore a bit louder. Carol seized the moment and quietly stood, turning to make sure she hadn't woken him. He slept on, and Carol pulled the comforter up and over him where she had disturbed it. She made her way to the tent entrance and unzipped it silently, looking out to see if the coast was clear.

"Thank God," she said, casting a grateful glance at the sky, "I have to pee like a racehorse!"

She dropped the rope ladder and climbed down awkwardly, her full bladder making it slightly difficult. As soon as she hit the ground she headed straight for the trees to relieve herself out of the sight of the clearing in case Daryl woke up.

When she returned, feeling ten pounds lighter, she found Daryl leaning against the truck with his arms crossed, fingers tapping his bicep.

"You shouldn't wander off alone," he said grimly.

"I had to pee!" Carol whined. Daryl cocked an eyebrow at her tone and smiled slightly.

"Alright," he said, his tone lightening, "But next time, tell me. Waking up and not knowing where you were scared the shit out of me."

Carol felt her heart flutter at his concern and she smiled.

"Yes, sir," she said, bowing dramatically.

Daryl rolled his eyes.

"C'mon," he said, uncrossing his arms and walking around the truck, "Let's go find us some cement mix for this fence."

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Cement mix was plentiful. It just wasn't one of those things people took when the shit hit the fan. Carol was mixing the foul smelling stuff in some five gallon buckets they'd found as Daryl dug the holes for the cement fence bases. Carol watched him work out of the corner of her eye, admiring the muscles in his arms as he dug...damn, those arms.

"How's it coming?" she asked when he approached her, wiping off his brow with the back of his hand.

"Got enough holes to start putting it together," he replied, grabbing a fence section off the pile. Carol stopped stirring and helped him get the heavy metal section in place and then she brought a bucket over and poured some of the contents into the first hole, surrounding one of the posts of the fence .

Daryl had her hold the fence piece while he grabbed the next section and secured them together with metal hooks and bars, then he held them both while Carol poured the cement. They repeated the process until they reached the spot for the "gate" which was really just a piece of metal fencing without the pickets so they could jump it fast if they needed to.

By nightfall, they were exhausted. The second tent had been put up as soon as they got back and then started on the fence, which they had only half completed before night fell. Darkness made them nervous in the clearing because of their limited sight in the trees around them, so they headed back up into their hideaway for a much needed night's sleep...tomorrow would be a whole new day.

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**Well, it's 1 AM and I am really freaking tired! But I stayed up to finish this for you since it's been a while. It's been a really busy few weeks and I apologize for the delay!**

**Review, my lovelies!**


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